Freezer Burn Part Four

"It's directly related to his exposure to Ancient technology, I'm sure of it!" Sam paced backwards and forwards, her hands gesturing wildly in a very uncharacteristic outward show of frustration. "Look at what happened when Daniel took that object from his pocket." She stopped, almost glaring at her listeners as if defying them to disagree. "There's a clear pattern in the General's illness."

"I agree, Colonel Carter. His symptoms were pronounced in your laboratory, and from what General O'Neill could tell me, they peaked when in the presence of Doctor Jackson."

Daniel frowned at the doctor's words and shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "I didn't realize. Every time I went near him with that thing in my pocket he must have been in agony."

"You were not to know, Daniel Jackson." Teal'c interrupted the conversation for the first time. "But I do not see how this knowledge helps O'Neill."

The others looked at him in astonishment, Daniel the first to speak. "Of course it does. We can keep all Ancient technology from Jack. It means he won't be able to help with the ship we found on Maybourne's planet, but I'm sure we will be able to get information from it regardless of that."

"And the chap'pai? You intend to keep O'Neill from that also?"

There was total silence, broken long moments later by Daniel's heartfelt exclamation.

"Hell!"

xoxoxoxoxoxo

"Well, that's just peachy!" General O'Neill's voice, although still weak and strained, could be heard through the whole infirmary.

"It isn't that bad, Jack. You don't have to go near the Gate. The effect seemed to be confined to the gate room. And now I've gotten rid of that Ancient tablet I was carrying around, I can visit you."

Jack glared up at the other man. "And here I was thinking you were trying to cheer me up." He ignored Daniel's muttered protests as he took the pillows from behind his back, pounding them into softness, and bent forward to stuff them back, frowning all the while. "That isn't an option you know."

"What isn't?" Daniel looked puzzled. "My visiting you?"

"No. Not going near the Gate. We have to find Thor. He was supposed to have cured me. Doesn't seem to have done much of a job of it does he?" He pointed a finger at Daniel, and in the best command voice he could muster under the circumstances, ordered, "Go find him and tell him to fix me or I want my money back."

xoxoxoxoxoxo

"I can only offer my apologies once more, O'Neill."

Jack wasn't in the mood to forgive easily. It had taken almost three weeks for Thor to show up, three weeks that he had spent either at home or in Washington.

Avoiding any contact with Ancient technology had been much harder than they had first thought, and he had ended up being a sort of Ancient detector before the resulting, almost life threatening, hemorrhaging had seen him a guest in the Academy Hospital as blood was pumped into him by the gallon. It had only been because of some very swift talking by the SGC doctors that he hadn't been admitted into the neurosurgical ward.

Days later he had finally stepped through his own front door, only to find the headache sending his blood pressure through the roof again. Those Ancients certainly got around, the photo album with that cute little piece of metal engraved with a meaningless symbol, found on some nameless planet, that Teal'c had given him for his birthday a few years ago, being the culprit that time.

And hadn't that just been so much fun to find!

So off he'd gone to Washington to explain everything in person to the President and the Joint Chiefs, while Carter had run a fine toothed comb over his house. Bet she'd had a good laugh at his Marvin the Martin boxers.

Thor had deigned to show up just this morning, and had beamed Jack straight up to his ship to run tests.

Then another moment of pure pain when Jack discovered, albeit briefly, just how much Ancient technology the Asgard had misappropriated as their own. He vaguely remembered having some sort of massive seizure before waking up in an Asgard medipod, from which Thor still hadn't removed him.

Hence the explanation whilst Jack lay down on the job.

Seemed his buddy, Thor, Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleet, had been so anxious to have Jack find a weapon against the Replicators that he hadn't bothered with the finer points of checking the latest download.

He would have known, if he had bothered to ask Carter, Teal'c, or Daniel, that Jack's transformation had been much further along than the previous time.

The remains of the first repository had been the building blocks on which the second had been built, sort of, from what Jack could work out, like a computer program that needed other software to run. And run it had, the combination of the Ancient gene he processed and the first repository, allowing it to take hold. But his body hadn't been able to take the strain, failing at the same time as the data in his brain was being reformatted.

Instead of healing his body and allowing the download to run its course, Thor had ripped it out, leaving pieces behind, pieces that were desperately trying to complete the programming and had nowhere to go. The Ancient ship had been the catalyst, setting the formatting the chair had originally started in motion again, but without the correct paths to follow it had sent his brain into overdrive.

Now it appeared, he needed a patch.

He just hoped it didn't have the same problems as Service Pack 2.

Although perhaps a firewall might be a good idea.

"And how exactly are you going to repair the damage?" Jack crossed his arms, feeling somewhat at a disadvantage, lying on his back wearing nothing but his ominous glare.

"The only solution I can offer is the completion of the original data transfer. We have repaired your physical body once more, and the process would be quite straight forward. Your mind was already attempting to complete the process, hence your extraordinarily long periods of slumber over the past weeks."

"And there I was thinking I was just tired." Jack shifted his hands, trying to appear nonchalant as he positioned them a trifle lower. "So let's get moving. Fix it."

Thor opened his eyes wider, which Jack had worked out was the Asgard equivalent of a headshake. "We cannot 'fix it', O'Neill. The Ancients were much more advanced than we are in this area."

"But you said the process was straightforward!"

"As it is, O'Neill, however we need to use Ancient equipment to carry it out."

A sinking feeling started in the pit of Jack's stomach and moved its way rapidly to his toes.

"What Ancient equipment?" he made himself ask.

"The chamber in which you were placed in the Antarctic."

"No." Short and emphatic.

"It is the only way, O'Neill. The process needs to be completed."

Crap!

"How long would it take?"

Thor blinked again. "There is no way of knowing, but from what I have been told the process was well underway when you were placed in the chamber, and would have continued while you were in stasis."

Lying as he was, Jack couldn't run away, much though he wanted to, so he did the next best thing.

"Could you give me a minute alone to think about it?"

And he thought about it – long and hard.

He could transfer to Washington. Fly a desk and never go offworld again. It wasn't like he got to do that much these days anyway.

But, boy it had been a headrush when he had those locals in his sights on Maybourne's planet. And that firefight with the Jaffa had sure gotten the adrenaline pumping through his old arteries.

Did he really want to give that up?

Hell no!

And who would be there watching his people go through the gate, and being there when they got back if he gave up the position? Who could he trust to look after them?

He really didn't have a choice.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

"You're sure about this, sir?"

Jack looked at the small coffin shaped box, and had a sudden memory of another time he had been confined in a space as cramped. Except this time he wasn't being shoved in by his guards, he was walking in voluntarily.

He shuddered.

He could do this. This time he had his friends watching his back.

He turned back, and nodded, seeing the worried expressions on their faces.

"Yeap, I'm sure. Don't worry, I've done it before – it's a piece of cake. And speaking of which, remember to save me some if I miss your birthday Daniel."

He looked around, feeling all the eyes on him. They had taken down the partitions after he had been beamed out before, but he knew, although he hadn't asked, that they were to be erected once more, concealing him from their stares. It must have been strange for them, knowing he was there the first time, but even stranger now, now they had met him, spoken with him.

He could see Colin and Melody Godwin off to one side, their hands touching, and wondered what they thought of all this. Probably wished the circus would go home so they could get back to work. There were some familiar faces from his last visit missing – Susan Pritchard was one. She had gone to the Pegasus Galaxy, along with McKay and so many others. He wondered, not for the first time, if they'd ever see them again.

He sighed, knowing this introspection was just a delaying tactic on his part, so he smiled and stepped towards the opening.

"See you soon, kids." And he turned to face them, feeling the cold already seeping into his veins.

Just for a moment he panicked, his heart beating frantically in his chest, but he held himself firm as the thin layer of ice formed across his eyes, and he fell into the darkness.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

This time they were waiting when he woke. This time they hadn't left his side.

Thor had been correct, it was only a few days before the alarms Carter had set up to warn them started ringing.

The ice melted without trace, leaving the General looking as if he was just waking from a short nap.

He took a step out, and stood, looking somewhat puzzled for a moment, as if listening to something unheard.

And then he smiled.

"I'm baaaaaack."

The End